MARK RAMPRAKASH flew to Barbados on Thursday with renewed faith that he has a future in the first-class game.

It was 12 months ago in a football match at Charterhouse School that Surrey’s batting maestro suffered a severe knee injury which delayed his start to last season.

And when he got going, after missing three LV County Championship matches, Ramprakash – who is now 42 – had one of the least productive summers of his career and failed to reach 1,000 runs for the first time in a decade.

A serious back injury was an increasing factor though and shortly after the end of the campaign he had an injection in one of the facet joints at the base of his back.

Now he feels renewed and is due to take part in three Twenty20 masters matches for England against West Indies.

Ramprakash said: “I was very concerned at the end of the season that I would be unable to carry on. It was a worrying situation.

“But the injection seems to have done the trick and I’m moving a lot more freely.

“Apparently it’s not unknown for people who have had a knee injury to get problems elsewhere because of it.”

Ramprakash felt batting conditions were harder last season than since early in his career, but he clearly suffered some technical problems because of the injury, his only century of the season taking his tally to 114 – level with boyhood hero Sir Vivian Richards.

“I wasn’t able to get my weight forward into drives and that’s quite a big disadvantage when you are batting. And standing in the field for a long time was getting very difficult.

“I’m doing a lot of yoga now, working on my posture and strengthening my core, so that should all put me in a good position to step up training towards the end of the month.

“I’m very hungry and I’m looking forward to getting back into it. I have a lot more confidence in my back now and if need be can always have another injection if a similar problem crops up.”

Meanwhile, Surrey have confirmed that opening batsman Arun Harinath has agreed a new one-year deal.

The 24-year-old left-hander has played for the county since the U9s but last year made only one Championship appearance – in difficult conditions at Guildford – while more aggressive players were preferred.

But another graduate of the club’s Pemberton Greenish-backed Academy, off-spinner Simon King, has been released. Also 24, he showed great promise on two Championship appearances in 2009 but was ignored after that and lost confidence.

Former Indian Test player Hanumant Singh had tipped King for international cricket five years ago and Surrey might ponder how he faded away.